"Oh my god, what…?"
"Haha, told you the prequels weren't good."
Nico and Will were doing a Star Wars marathon in Nico's cabin, starting from the originals. Will decided that he should introduce Nico to the classic movies. And Star Wars was definitely one of them. They had just watched Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Nico was complaining beside him how George Lucas should have stopped after the Originals or at least have someone others written the script.
"I mean, the plot doesn't make any sense! How could Anakin fall so fast into the Dark Side? How could Padmé die because of a broken heart? Why did the whole Jedi council didn't even suspect Palpatine to be the Sith Lord? And don't even get me started on Jar Jar Binks. AT least he didn't appear in the third movie."
Will was smiling beside Nico as he watched him ranting about the Star Wars prequels. He never seen Nico so relaxed and happy. Sure now he was complaining about the movies, but it was a thousand times better than a gloomy Nico who always stood back in th shadows. He liked the new Nico, he could definitely get used to him.
"Woah, woah, Death Boy. I know the prequels were not great, but I think you are exaggerating. They had some good moments, you know?" Will said trying to calm down the younger boy.
Nico stopped his ranting he relaxed, then took a deep breath. "I know, if there wouldn't be the originals, I would even find it okay, but the prequels are just so disappointing after seeing the originals." Nico cried almost desperately ruffling his hair.
Will laughed. Nico was finally behaving like his age. The only time he ever saw him act like that was when Nico first came into Camp Half-Blood. But after Bianca's death, he drastically changed. Will frowned at that. He didn't wanted Nico to be like that again. He would make sure of that. He looked at his watch and to his shock saw that it was almost past the curfew.
"Hey, Nico it's already late, I think we should continue our movie night tomorrow, alright?" He informed Nico.
Nico widened his eyes at what he had said. "We meet tomorrow…again?"
Will looked confused at him. "Yeah…you have a problem with that?"
Nico blushed, then he shook his head quickly. "No…I find it's great. So see you tomorrow then." He raised his arm to wink goodbye.
Will smiled at him and copied his gesture. "See you tomorrow."
Today the hunters were coming for a visit to the camp. Nico didn't know what too feel. He still hated the hunters for stealing Bianca from him and for letting her get killed. But that was a long time ago and if he thought back, it was Bianca's own choice to join them and to sacrifice herself.
The hunters came around noon with Thalia as their leader, Artemis, the moon goddess, was not there. Thalia was probably the only hunter Nico liked. Being his cousin and so, he spent some time with her in the past and realized they had a lot of common interests. Surprisingly a lot of people thought they were a couple every time they were together outside. Probably because of their similar choice of clothing.
Nico saw how Chiron greeted the hunters and how they they greeted back grimly. Apparently they didn't wanted to be here. Then Thalia spotted Percy and Annabeth standing a few meters behind Chiron observing the whole scene curiously and she ran towards them and gave him a death hug.
"Annie, Kelp Head, I missed you two so much!" she cried while wrapping her arms around the both of them. They other two laughed.
"It's good to see you too, Thals." Annabeth spoke.
"Yeah, it wasn't electrifying enough without you, Pinecone Face." Percy stated while grinning. Thalia rolled his eyes.
"You're still a Kelp Had, I see. Well nothing changed then." she said smirking. Annabeth laughed at that comment while Percy pouted.
"Oh, come on those two get a hug, but not your own brother. Thalia, you're disappointing me." a voice spoke behind Thalia.
Thalia turned around to spot a grinning blond son of Jupiter staring at her. She grinned back.
"Of course, I didn't Jasie. Come on, give your big sis a bear hug, would you?" With that Jason wrapped her arms around his older sister. Nico was touched by the sibling reunion. It reminded him so of him and Hazel and occasionally him and Bianca in the past.
"I missed you." he heard Jason say.
"I missed you too, you little pest." Thalia replied. They remained in their position for a few seconds, then they broke up. Thalia then greeted the rest of the seven. When Leo introduced her to Calypso, Thalia gasped in shock.
"Leo Valdez managed to get a girlfriend? Someone call 911!" she shouted. Leo pouted at this while the others burst out in laughing.
"Hey, I would like you to know, that no one can resist the charm of the ultimate McShizzle." he claimed while looking glorious into the sky. Calypso beside him rolled her eyes.
Thalia looked at her sympathetically. "I'm so sorry for you. I know how it is to be hit on by this idiot even if he did know that I can't fall in love." She shot some daggers at Leo.
Calypso laughed at that. "It's okay. I got used to his special habits. Even if they can drive someone into madness." she said grinning. They both laughed at that while Leo just pouted in the background while shouting at the same time: "You're all just jealous because of my famous ladies skills!"
Thalia rolled her eyes. Then she spotted Nico standing as usual outside the crowd. She grinned at him.
"Death Breath, it's good to see you." she said while giving him a light hug and ruffling his hair.
Nico tried to shook her off. "Yeah…yeah, it's good to see you too, Pinecone Face." he replied with a small smile.
Thalia huffed. "Still the same grumpy little emo, aren't we?" she teased him.
Nico scowled. He didn't like it to be called an emo. "I'm not grumpy and I'm definitely not an emo!"
Thalia still grinned then she bend to his ear and whispered. "So, I heard, you have a new boyfriend. You wanna introduce him to me, so I can threaten him, in case does hurt you?"
Nico groaned. Even the hunters thought that him and Will were a pair. This was getting ridiculous.
"Will is not my boyfriend, alright. He is just a good friend." he said annoyed by Thalia's behavior.
Thalia smirked at him. "Who said, that it was Will?"
Nico's face flushed red. Then he quickly gained control of his emotions again. "Duh." he said while rolling his eyes. "Everyone in this camp is trying to get us together. It is annoying, alright, this whole Solangelo thing. So stop pestering me about this okay?" Nico told her.
Thalia wanted to say something but was interrupted by Chiron's voice. Thanks goodness. Nico thought. Now Thalia couldn't pester him about his love life anymore.
"Attention campers!" Chiron's voice roared. "To welcome our special guests, the hunters of Artemis, we shall play a game of capture the flag! It will be like always: hunters versus the campers! Have fun!"
The campers roared at that. While the hunters faces remained neutral. Nico groaned. Capture the flag was not one of his favorite games. Let's say he had some bad experiences with it. He looked at Thalia to see her grinning at him. Her eyes said that she was totally excited, probably to smash some camper's heads and seeing the campers lose.
No, this time the hunters won't win. I want to see their smug faces in shock when they lose this time. Nico thought. He suddenly felt this kind of challenging feeling. Now he felt excited about the game. He was sure that the hunters would go down this time.
Nico was staying in the shadows of the forest, sneaking on the flag. His team had a strategy. The flag was protected by Piper, her cabin roommates and some of the Apollo kids, because they could charmspeak and shoot with arrows. The Ares kids with some other campers were coming from the west, the others from the east. And the children of the big three should sneak on the flag and capture it. Nico stopped. The flag was now in his visual field. It was just 50 meters in front of him. He just wanted to go when somebody touched his shoulder. He shrieked, then this somebody put a hand on his mouth.
"Shh, quiet Death Boy, you don't wanna let them discover us." He looked up to see Will grinning at him. He shook off from him and glared at him.
"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you protect the flag?" Nico whispered.
Will still grinned at him. "You're right, but I thought you will need a bodyguard. The others can take care of themselves."
Nico scowled. "I can take care of myself too sunshine, thank you very much."
Will raised his hands in defense. "Hey I know you can take care of yourself, but you'll need help. See there?" He pointed at the five hunters who were protecting the flag. "You can't take them alone. You'll need help."
Nico rolled his eyes. "I still have Percy and Jason."
Will looked at him. "Oh, you didn't know. Those two are busy fighting off some hunters. They were already discovered. I saw them on my way to here."
Nico gulped. This wasn't good. Without Percy's and Jason's help, he really needed help. He sighed. "Fine, but you stay behind me alright. I get the flag, you only cover me. Got that?"
Will grinned at him. "You're the boss, Death Boy."
Nico nodded. With that he walked towards the flag. First he created some skeletons to distract the hunters. As the hunters saw the skeletons, the began too shoot with arrows uncontrollably, but almost always missed because hitting a skeleton with an arrow was really hard. Nico smiled. His plan was working. Maybe he didn't need Will at all. Then he ran in full speed at the flag.
When he arrived there he immediately grabbed the flag. He wanted to turn around and run back to Will, but then h heard a hunter shouting. "Guys, a boy is trying to steal our flags!"
Damn it. He had hoped that he would get the flag unseen. Well, time for some action. He saw a olive skinned girl shooting an arrow at him. He ducked and charged at her. She didn't had enough time to stretch her bow, so Nico quickly knocked her unconscious with his fist.
"There is the boy!" he heard a hunter shouting. He ducked again when arrows were shot at him. He wanted to shadow-travel away, but he remembered that he couldn't do this, because Chiron said it was unfair to the other team if he used this ability. Groaning he did the only thing that came in his mind. He ran away.
"Get him!" He looked back to see now four hunters chasing him, shooting arrows after him. Great, just great. He ran deeper into the forest. He almost reached the creek, when suddenly someone knocked him down. He quickly stood up to see a hunter standing in front of him aiming an arrow at his head. He gulped.
The hunter smirked. "Good boy. Now give me the flag and you won't be get hurt." Nico was sweating. He didn't how to get out of this situation. One move and an arrow was between his eyes. Before he could think of a good plan, th girl suddenly fell down. He stared at her in shocked, then looked up to see a grinning Will staring at him.
"Will!" he cried, relieved to see him.
Will was still grinning at him. "Hi Death Boy, knew you would need my help."
Nico smiled at him. Then he widened his eyes in shock as he a hunter approach them. She stretched her bow.
"Will, get down." Nico shouted. Will looked at him confused. Then Nico pushed him onto the ground. The next thing he felt was a pang in his chest. He fell onto the ground. Then the world around him turned black.
Hey guys, finally finished chapter seven. Puh. That was intense. What will happen to Nico? You will find out in the next chapter. Hope you liked this chapter. Thank you again for all the reviews. Can't believe that already 21 people have favored my story and 34 are following it. Have a nice day guys. :)